Arr!
by Book of Doom
Summary: [Pirate AU] The adventure begins! Pirating the seven seas abound by the young men of the pirate ship Seigaku. In which there are many ships, uh, pairings. Actually... both.
1. 001

**Title:** ARR! (#001)  
**Author:** Blue and Red  
**Characters/Pairings:** Slight Tezuka/Echizen  
**Word Count:** 1814  
**Summary:** In which Echizen joins the crew of the pirate ship Seigaku.  
**Author's Notes (Red):** Well. This is very much a monster tale that is _in-progress_, meaning that it's raw with enough holes to be sunk before you can finish reading the title. But it's an idea that we want to materialize, so we hope that you enjoy reading it as much we enjoyed writing it!

* * *

The ship heaved and bucked on the choppy seas. A dark figure, descending unsteadily into the hold swore as the stairs beneath his feet rose and fell. As the vessel gave a particularly violent lurch, said figure tripped down the final step, still swearing loudly. Another figure appeared in the doorway, illuminated by weak sunlight that filtered down through the hatches. 

"Momoshiro, are you okay?"

The first figure in the hold rose and waved a hand nonchalantly at the first mate.

"Aye Oishi, I'm fine."

With another worried glance at the other man, Oishi left. Momoshiro waited until he was gone before collapsing on a nearby crate, wincing. Gingerly, he snaked a hand down to touch his sprained ankle... and encountered fur.

"Meow."

"Damn cat." Momoshiro stroked the brown and white fur fondly as the ship's cat rubbed itself against his shins and purred. It didn't take long for questing fingers to find the scrap of cloth the cat carried in its mouth. "What's this?" It was silky and scented, not quite the kind of material one expected to find on a pirate ship.

A ship at sea is never fully silent. Always there is the groan of planks, the flapping of sails, the slap of waves against the hull. Momoshiro would never have noticed the extra shuffle of something moving if Karupin hadn't mewed and streaked towards it. There was a brief scuffle as someone tripped and a scruffy, soaked boy sprawled out of the shadows at Momoshiro's feet. Karupin gave a satisfied meow and settled on said boy's back and began to wash himself.

Momoshiro's first instinct was to scream bloody murder, of course. He didn't expect anyone to be in the hold at this time of the day; that was actually why he decided upon this location to recuperate from the week's hectic activities. But the boy's eyes opened, golden and guileless, and found himself drawn into his gaze.

The younger boy spoke first, voice ringing with a certain arrogance in spite of the vestiges of childhood it still contained. "Who are you?"

Quickly recovering from his slight daze, Momoshiro fired back, "I should be the one asking that! Who are you?"

"I asked you first."

Twitch. "Cheeky little brat. You're obviously not one of us, so I'm gonna have to take you to see the captain." He made a move as if to get up, but promptly fell right back onto the crate, clutching his ankle in agony. "$#&!"

The boy shook his head slightly and drew himself to his feet. With a small smirk plastered on his youthful features, he held a hand out to Momoshiro, and said, "Mada mada dane."

_This boy... There's something special about him..._ Momoshiro grabbed the proffered hand -- he knew when to swallow his pride. But he also knew that his grip was stronger than it looked, and he was more than able to pull the smaller male in the direction of the captain's cabin.

"I'm a nice person, kiddo. But not everyone's like me." He turned to look at the other full in the face. "Better watch that smart mouth of yours around Tezuka-senchou."

* * *

Tezuka was having a good day. Just yesterday they'd carried out a very successful raid against yet another merchant ship and in addition to their cargo, he and his crew had relieved the merchant of a fair bit of gold. Tezuka liked gold, it came with the territory, being a pirate captain and all. In fact, the pirate was in such a good mood that he allowed himself a little smile -- which vanished as soon as someone knocked on his cabin door. Certain appearances had to be kept, after all. (Tezuka thought that having a captain smiling in any manner other than evilly was bad for discipline and morale.) 

"Enter."

There was a brief scuffle and the door burst open to spill a tangle of limp and people. Tezuka recognised the person on the top of pile: Momoshiro. Somehow he wasn't all that surprised to see the spiky-haired pirate involved in his disturbance. The figure beneath him however looked completely foreign. The captain allowed the pile on the floor to continue scuffling for a moment more as it struggled to separate and right itself. In the end though, he decided it would be simpler to separate them himself. He found himself with a very abused-looking Momoshiro who clearly favoured his right ankle and an exotic-looking boy who glared sullenly and was slight enough for him to heft easily with one hand.

"Momoshiro, what is the meaning of this intrusion?"

"Tezuka-senchou." The pirate tried to straighten but had to lean heavily on the sturdy oak table to do so. "I found this stowaway in the hold."

"I see." Tezuka glanced down at the boy and met with golden eyes glaring from behind a curtain of tangled dark hair. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Tell Fuji that his presence is requested in my cabin. Immediately."

Momoshiro hesitated and with some amusement, Tezuka noted it was to cast a concerned look at the dangling boy. Perhaps he had over-done his reputation of being the terrifying captain...

"I will not be casting his boy overboard, Momoshiro. At least not until we have sighted land. And let Inui have a look at that ankle. That's an order."

Momoshiro looked faintly green at the thought of visiting the ship's surgeon -- Inui's "juices," as he called his medicines, were legendary even among other pirate ships for their ability to make even the toughest man pass out. Still, he managed an "Aye, Captain!" before hobbling out to find Fuji, the ship's boatswain, who incidentally was one of the precious few who didn't not faint from drinking Inui's juices.

Tezuka waited patiently for the door to click shut before releasing his frip on the strange boy's shirt. He observed that the boy didn't lose his footing as most people would when coming into contact with the group so suddenly. Rather, the youth righted himself and stood straight, body language only betraying the barest hint of defiance.

Silence. The tension in the room was palpable, and Tezuka intended to keep it that way until the boy broke. Best if the other spoke first; Tezuka wanted the last word on his turf. It would not be good for him to reveal his hand so early in this little game the boy was playing. Besides, the boy also reminded him of himself once upon a time, when he was arrogant and reckless and thought that he could take on absolutely anything...

Finally, the boy stated, "You're Tezuka Kunimitsu, and this ship is Seigaku."

Tezuka chose not to acknowledge the obvious.

The other continued, "I'm here to join your crew."

Now, an eyebrow lifted. (Perfectly, of course -- it was an art that every captain had to master along with smiling evilly.) "What gives you the right to do so? I don't recall authorizing our boatswain to hire anyone, and we have no need for additional crew at the moment."

"You could use a cabin boy."

"Only if he can prove that he's worth the additional cost." Ah, the challenged had sparked a fire in the boy's golden eyes, and it was oddly enthralling.

"I can do anything you could need me to do." It was said simply, a statement, not a boast even though it was clearly a great source of pride. Tezuka regarded the boy's skinny frame for a moment.

"_Anything?_" His tone was doubtful; he meant it to be so.

"Anything." The boy bristled and Tezuka knew his initial impression of him to be correct. Here was a child who would overcome any challenge he accepted -- or die trying. While such spirit was admirable, Tezuka could not tolerate people without the competence to back it up. Somehow, though, he suspected that would not be an issue with the stowaway.

"Can you fight? Wield a blade?"

"Yes." And the captain felt sure he would be deadly at it too. There was much of the predator in those golden feline eyes -- even if their owner did not yet have the air of one aware of the fact.

"Alright. You're our cabin boy until we put to port. I'll reassess your worth then and see if you're worth keeping."

"Uh... Okay." The boy looked stunned, perhaps at being so readily accepted with so few questions asked. Tezuka wasn't stupid; he knew that any probing he did now into the boy's past was unlikely to be met with the truth. He did however have to know one more thing about the stowaway because really, calling him "the boy" all the time would just be ridiculous.

"What's your name?"

"Echizen Ryoma."

"Echizen Ryoma, while you are a member of this crew, you will show all higher-ranking crew appropriates respect. Which, since you're the cabin boy, is everyone. Are we clear?"

"Yes... Tezuka-senchou." It cost the boy some pride to add the honorific, the captain was amused to see. However, he didn't have to put up with the sullen cabin boy for long since a soft knock sounded on the door and it opened before he could call out. Fuji Syuusuke, boatswain of Seigaku, only living man immune to Inui's juices and the only person on board to breach Tezuka's privacy so casually, smiled in.

"Senchou, Momo-ko said you wanted to see me."

_Momo-ko_. Tezuka resisted the urge to press his face into his palm. There was a term no self-respecting pirate ship should ever hear uttered, never mind that no self-respecting pirate should ever say it. Already he could see the mirth dancing in the new cabin boy's eyes and the faint upward twist of his pale lips. Unfortunately, there was no controlling the tensai short of slitting his throat and Tezuka wasn't that willing to waste a talented crew member. That, and Fuji was a terrifyingly efficient boatswain. (If he were very drunk, Tezuka might, perhaps, have also been pressed into admitting it was because he was rather fond of the man as well. Tezuka was very careful about his alcohol intake.)

"Fuji, this is Echizen Ryoma. He'll be our new cabin boy on probation. Get him settled in and assign him his duties."

If Fuji looked incredibly feline and gave the air of one just awarded a particularly succulent treat, Tezuka ignored it. Already he simply wanted the mass of complications he felt this boy was bringing gone. Being left on his own to his private captainly duties sounded most appealing, alluring new cabin boy or no. As the boatswain led the dark-haired boy out of his cabin, Tezuka briefly considered the possibility that Echizen would jump screaming from the ship the moment they sighted land after a week with the crew, Funnily enough, that was how they'd lost the last three cabin boys...

Originally posted: 01/01/2007  
Last modified: 30/01/2007


	2. 002

**Title:** ARR! (#002)  
**Author:** Red and Blue  
**Characters/Pairings:** Fuji/Echizen  
**Word Count:** 1040  
**Summary:** In which Echizen is violated.  
**Author's Notes (Blue):** Echizen is jailbait in a cap. Only I don't think he has a cap in the setting in this fic. Which makes him just jailbait... I'll take it!

To Kaiserin Tammy: Your review really heartened us... Thank you:) However, I'm sorry to say that there isn't much Tezuka/Echizen in this chapter, but, uh, (checks draft). You can expect it a couple of chapters down the road. I also apologise for any OOC -- it's more for the humour. And the crack. Red has a really bad tendency to degenerate into crack.

* * *

"The first thing you have to do is to strip out of those wet clothes."

Echizen tugged at his shirt dubiously. "I don't have any change in clothing."

"Well then," Fuji said brightly. "I guess you'll just have to walk around naked." He smiled at the look of horror that crept over Echizen's face. "There's nothing to be ashamed of. We're all men on this ship. And you look very cute."

The boy wrapped his arms himself reflexively. "I don't like people looking at me that way."

"But you'll get sick if you don't get yourself dry."

"I'll catch a cold if I don't have anything to wear too. Look, don't you guys have a stash of spare clothes lying around or something?" Echizen was increasingly bothered by the expression on Fuji's face, which was downright creepy. He wasn't the type to back down from confrontations, but he would have run out in a heartbeat if Fuji wasn't between him and the cabin door.

Another smile. "We do. I need to dig in the stores for it, though, since we haven't had someone your size join our crew for a long time. Why don't you make yourself comfortable here first? These will be your quarters, and I'm sure there's a towel somewhere around..." Fuji rummaged in a set of drawers, and moments later he held up something. "Here."

The scraggly piece of cloth that barely passed off as a towel was taken off his hands quickly. Echizen retreated to the opposite corner of the room almost immediately after, but instead of drying himself off, he remained still.

"What are you waiting for, Echizen?" Fuji stepped closer towards the younger boy, practically backing him into a corner. "Do you need me to--"

"You can stay right there. No. Um. I thought you were going to find me clothes." A pause, and remembering his position on the ship, Echizen added rather belatedly, "Fuji-senpai."

The boatswain sighed. "Must I leave now? I want to see you strip."

"Yes. Please."

"Since you asked so nicely, I can't say no, can I?"

With that, Fuji left the cabin. Just when Echizen thought that he was safe from lecherous leers, Fuji poked his head back in. "I'll be expecting to see you naked and waiting for me later! Don't run away!"

_What is with that guy..._

When he was certain that Fuji had left for real, Echizen finally divested himself of his damp clothing and dried himself the best he could. Following that, he performed a series of stretches -- his body ached from being cramped in the hold for hours before Momoshiro had found him. The events of the day began to catch up with Echizen, though, and he settled himself on a chair. It wasn't long before he dozed off, clutching the rag of a towel in his lap.

Sleep had a funny way of condensing time. It might have been evening when he was shown into the cabin, but Echizen peered at the room through sleepy, lidded eyes, and silver beams of moonlight greeted him. As well as a series of feather-light touches caressing his bare back, starting from the base of his spine all the way up to where his dark hair brushed his neck.

He was inclined to dismiss it all as a dream cooked up by his hormonal teenage imagination until he could see, as well as feel fingers creeping over his exposed shoulder, clearly intent on making his chest their playground. They weren't the kind he dreamt about; they were delicate and slender and girly...

Fully awake now, Echizen leapt out of his chair. "WTF?"

"Now, now, Echizen. There's no need to sound so shocked." Fuji's outwardly innocent, smiling visage greeted him. "I did tell you I'll get you clothes. And I found some really cute outfits that look like they fit you."

"You were touching me."

"Did you like it?" Fuji leaned forward, strands of hair tickling Echizen's nose as the sudden movement mode them swag hypnotically. There were alone, it was dark, and the boatswain's slitted gaze made the boy feel very naked -- in more ways than one.

"No. Could I have the clothes, please?" Casting his eyes about the dark room, Echizen was dismayed to notice that even the pole of his sodden clothing left on the floor had disappeared while he had slept.. "Uh, Fuji-sempai?" The last part was added for good measure.

"Ah... Clothes..." Fuji straightened and tapped his chin reflectively with a long, slim finger. "But Echizen, I think you look so much better without them."

"I'll catch a cold!" Fuji was advancing again, with a distinctly predatory look in his slitted blue eyes now and the still-uninitiated cabin boy hoped the desperate plea to logic would work. It didn't.

"Mmm, I can think of other ways to prevent that." That was an indignant (and panicked) squeal as Fuji pounced, followed by the thud of bodies hitting the wooden floor.

"Ow."

"Oh, I'm sorry Echizen. Are you alright?"

"...Fuji-sempai, you're heavy."

The boatswain gave an apologetic laugh as he stood and helped Echizen to his feet. Seemingly from nowhere, he produced a shirt and a pair of pants. Echizen glared distrustingly at him for a full thirty seconds before grabbing the garments. When it became apparent Fuji would give him no privacy even now, he proceeded to put them on with a sigh. It was too annoying, really, being left naked and wet, then molested...

"What's that, Echizen?" The tensai smiled sweetly but Echizen wasn't fooled by it.

"Why didn't you just give me the clothes earlier?" The boy repeated sullenly. Fuji's smile, if it was possible, widened further.

"A little exercise is good for warming up the body."

Echizen felt his left eyebrow twitch. "You were groping me before that."

"Just a massage. Good for blood circulation."

Echizen's jaw dropped a couple of times in a fairly accurate goldfish imitation. Fuji flashed another blinding smile.

"Now get changed. Wouldn't want our efforts to be undone and for you to catch a cold. We might have to start over again."

Echizen managed to clothe himself in the kind of time usually reserved for stripping fast enough to tear buttons and sleeves.

Originally posted: 01/01/2007  
Last modified: 27/01/2007


	3. 003

**Title:** ARR! (#003)  
**Author:** Red and Blue  
**Characters/Pairings**: -  
**Word Count:** 628  
**Summary:** In which Echizen contemplates the key members of the crew.  
**Author's Notes (Red):** Shorter than usual, yes. But the style's rather different from the rest of the story, and I felt it best to have it in a separate chapter. Personally, this is my favourite bit out of all that we've written so far. 

The ship, Ryoma concluded grimly, was a poorly disguised mental institution. With the possible exception of Momoshiro, _Seigaku_'s weaponmaster-slash-gunner and all-round typical boisterous young male, the entire crew had to be on something.

Kawamura Takashi, for one, was a more than excellent cook. Ryoma's first impression of him was that Taka-san was a rather mild-mannered nice guy who would readily feed any hungry crew member that came knocking at his door -- and it was good food, worthy to be served at the tale of a fancy restaurant. However, the moment one placed a kitchen utensil into his hands, he would undergo a complete transformation which everyone called his BURNING mode. Random shouts such as "GREAT-O!" and "I'M BURNING!" or "COME ON, BABY!" resounded through the _Seigaku_ everytime this happened, and Echizen pitied anyone who was in the way of the knife-slinging cook.

All this had to be the fault of Sadaharu Inui. Ryoma was fairly certain that the ship's doctor was not only on drugs himself, but he was also the mastermind behind the eccentric behaviour of the crew. Eerily reminiscent of a crazed scientist, Inui spent most of his time experimenting, inventing various concoctions that somehow never resembled anything remotely drinkable. Ryoma shuddered, remembering a sickly green liquid that was murky and bubbled away merrily. It smelled like rotting sardines.

The unfortunate victim of most of Inui's experiments was none other than Kaidoh Kaoru, whom Inui had adopted as a little mentee of sorts. Kaidoh was the carpenter, and he possessed amazing stamina. What defined him as a part of _Seigaku_'s unstable crew was the hissing noise he liked to make, and his dour, almost frightening demeanour. He was an odd, loner sort of character, but Ryoma thought he saw Kaidoh petting Karupin rather fondly.

If Kaidoh was scary and antisocial, then Kikumaru Eiji the sailsmaster was plain disturbing and terrifying. It wasn't that he was sullen (Ryoma might actually have preferred that), he was just so… gay. Happy or otherwise. When he wasn't flipping up and down the ratlines and masts like an acrobatically gifted monkey, he was noticeably inseparable from the first mate, Oishi Shuichiro.

Oishi would have been normal -- if he weren't so _motherly_. As satisfying as it had been to hear Fuji get a dressing-down on appropriate behaviour to younger shipmates (especially cabin boys), it had also been a little strange. Especially with Kikumaru constantly bouncing around shouting "Nyaaa!" and making knowing faces and suggestive comments.

Frankly, the only other member of the crew who acted like a normal member of their species was Karupin -- most of the time at least. Ryoma was still doubtful of any being who could make Kaidoh Kaoru wave a battered felt mouse in front of him and make soft cooing noises. (Interspersed with hisses, of course.)

Still, within four days, Ryoma found himself disturbingly at home on _Seigaku_. He knew not to go to Inui's cabin. He'd found that the safest was to ask Kawamura for food was from a distance, preferably out of sight. He'd discovered the wisdom in staying away from Fuji after the sun set. He'd even mastered a pleasant face which he wore everytime Oishi lectured him ("You're too small! Here, drink this milk, Inui says it'll make you grow."), and had built up some kind of immunity of Kikumaru's hyperactivity and tendency to glomp him. Kaidoh left him alone if he returned the favour, and Momoshiro was good company even if he was noisy.

Only Tezuka remained elusive and mysterious. Even when they duelled as practice using blunt wooden swords the crew kept for that purpose, Ryoma never managed to feel as though he'd permeated the veil of mystery that surrounded Tezuka and, perhaps, made the man.

Nonetheless, Ryoma was oddly content…

Originally posted: 01/01/2007  
Last modified: 30/01/2007


	4. 004

**Title:** ARR! (#004)  
**Author:** Blue and Red  
**Characters/Pairings:** -  
**Word count:** 1842  
**Summary:** In which the pirates do pirate stuff.  
**Author's Notes (Blue):** Crikey, this one's long... Anyhow, pirating abroad in this chapter! Finally, some swashbuckling action!

* * *

"Ship to pooo-ort!" 

Echizen was roused from his napping spot under the stairs by the call. Stumbling groggily onto deck, he was knocked backwards by Momoshiro barrelling past with bags of gunpowder slung over his shoulders. Steady hands caught him as he stumbled. There was a brief moment where strong, hard fingers like he dreamed about curved along the shape of his face, righting him, then they were gone. Tezuka gave the cabin boy a long look before striding onto the deck, giving no indication of wanting thanks for having just caught him.

"Echizen! Why are you still standing around?"

Echizen turned and nearly collided with Kawamura. Shrugging, he mumbled tiredly, "What's going on?"

"Didn't you hear? We spotted a small merchant ship ahead. More heavily armed than a typical vessel its size, which would mean the ship's probably carrying valuable cargo. We're taking her on -- _Seigaku_'s a tough girl, and she's outlasted more difficult opponents than this."

"Ah."

"Taka-san!" Momoshiro's voice interrupted. "I need your help with the guns!"

Echizen pulled out a spatula out of seemingly nowhere and discreetly handed it to Kawamura.

"BURNING! Aye, Momo! On my way!" And the cabin boy was left standing behind in the dust.

"Oi, Echizen." Fuji billowed by, and Echizen couldn't help but be caught in the startlingly blue depths of dangerous-looking eyes. "Better get to the armoury and find a sword. We're boarding, but this merchant ship won't be as easy to take as one might think."

Echizen remained frozen only for the most miniscule of moments, temporarily stunned by the terrifying seriousness of the tensai Fuji Syuusuke who seemed so different from the first time they met. A dull boom in the not-so-far-off distance quickly roused him back into action.

Grabbing one of the smaller -- but no less deadly -- swords Momoshiro had laid out for him, Echizen sped back onto the deck to find preparations already in full swing. His sharp eyesight allowed him to glimpse Tezuka gesturing to him in the hive of activity. He took it as his cue to move closer to the captain.

Tezuka didn't waste any time. "Echizen. We're doing this in as little time as possible – there's no sense in dragging this minor skirmish out. Both of us will board the ship, but unlike the rest of the crew doing the same, we'll head straight to the captain. Avoid engagements with any of their people unless absolutely necessary. The others will also cover us."

"Got it."

Tezuka gazed at Echizen searchingly, and clapped a hand on his smaller shoulder. "I trust you, Echizen. We can do this. Together." He lifted that hand, and clenched his fist.

Echizen raised his own to meet Tezuka's. "I know."

"Don't let your guard down!"

Echizen went to make ready the ropes wile Tezuka called out orders. Once _Seigaku_ was alongside the merchant ship though, the captain handed control over to the first mate and took up his position next to the cabin boy. Echizen looked around; Kaidoh, Inui, Kawamura, Kikumaru, Oishi and Fuji were all part of the boarding crew. Only Momoshiro appeared to be staying behind to lead the seamen in repelling any would-be boarders. As he caught Momoshiro's eye, Echizen flashed a smirk; he got to do the fun bit. Momoshiro scowled and loaded a musket with possibly more force than strictly necessary.

"_SEIGAKU_!" For someone whose voice was practically devoid of any inflection, Tezuka was very loud; Echizen had to resist the urge to plug his ears.

"FIGHT!"

In next to no time, they were swinging over the chasm between ships on long ropes with bullets flying about them. On top of that, swords awaited them on the other side. Echizen had a brief glimpse of two rows of cannons facing each other down below like black teeth in the yawning maw of ocean beneath and then he was flying over deck and he let go. The cabin boy found himself fighting to save his skin the second his boots (a little too large since they had belonged to Fuji -- Echizen preferred to go barefoot on _Seigaku_) hit the planks of the deck. The man was big and strong. Try as he might, Echizen couldn't disarm him. Then, without warning, his opponent sagged and dropped to the deck with a meaty thud; Fuji stood in front of him, blade dripping blood and gore.

"Try stabbing them next time, Echizen. Tezuka-senchou's waiting for you."

Echizen looked from the dead crewman, to the dripping blade before him, to the tensai. Now, Fuji thought, Is where we find out if he's still just a child and not ready to kill. Poor Tezuka, he had such high hopes for our cabin boy...

"Mada mada dane. Just stabbing them is too easy, Fuji-senpai." A merchant crewman rushed up to them and Echizen's blade flashed, slitting his throat neatly and dropping him like a sack of meat. "But if we don't have time..."

Fuji watched the cabin boy make his way over to Tezuka so deftly it looked like he was dancing. He allowed himself to be distracted for a few seconds by the way the young body twisted and moved before turning back to the battle.

"Senchou." Tezuka took care of his opponent and turned to face his cabin boy. He noted that the newest addition to his crew sported a bloody blade and a perfectly unscathed frame. Echizen hadn't even broken a sweat, and there was the barest hint of his usual cocky grin in place.

"Alright Echizen, let's go."

Find the captain, get him to surrender, hand over his goods and leave. Easier said than done... The other members of the boarding party were covering for them as best possible, but the merchant ship had a full crew with more than a few reasonably skilled swordsmen in their midst. By the time he and Echizen had made their way to the captain's cabin, Tezuka's shoulder was starting to ache from the repetitive hacking and slashing. Still, he pulled himself together, trusting Echizen to watch his back while he assessed the situation. The captain would probably have barricaded himself in, with any number of guns pointing at the door. A direct assault would be suicidal. Unless...

It worked beautifully. Tezuka kicked open the door and stepped back. Echizen darted in, ducking low and was short enough that the first salvo of bullets flew harmlessly over his head. When Tezuka next poked his head around the door, his cabin boy was menacing the merchant captain at sword-point and looking very pleased with himself.

"Letting your boys do the dirty work for you, huh, Captain Tezuka."

"My reputation apparently precedes me."

The merchant captain sneered. "_Seigaku_ is well-known for terrorising ships in these waters. No need to flatter yourself so much, Tezuka."

"You were warned about the 'terrors' around here, but you were beaten anyway. Your cargo, please."

"As if I would just hand it to you," the merchant captain said sullenly. However, the fight had pretty much drained out of his face -- he knew that this was one which he could not win. Even though his ship was quite heavily armed, there was little chance that they would be able to out-muscle _Seigaku_. Perhaps, it was best to cut his losses then and there.

Tezuka, sensing that the other captain didn't want to talk with a very junior crew member about, raised his own sword and said, "Echizen, leave the room. Check up on the state of affairs outside."

A sigh. "I was having fun, senchou."

"Go."

With one last customary smirk, Echizen tossed the merchant captain a "Mada mada dane" and advised him to turn pirate ("It's more lucrative.") before leaving.

When the door clicked shut behind the cabin boy, Tezuka addressed an irritated and defeated merchant captain. "Now, let us work out the terms that will be most advantageous to both parties..."

* * *

"Senchou, that's everything." 

Momoshiro emerged from the hold of the merchant ship escorting the last of the valuable cargo. Tezuka nodded.

"Get it stowed. Kaidoh, how are the repairs coming along?"

"They're finished, Tezuka-senchou." _Seigaku_'s carpenter stepped away from the group of merchant crewmen who had helped him; said sailors looked extremely relieved. Tezuka nodded in affirmation of approval again and turned to the other captain.

"Very well, our business is completed. You will be safely conducted out of these waters." The merchant captain only sneered at Tezuka's words -- there wasn't much else he could do seeing as several of _Seigaku_'s seamen were holding him and his commanding officers at gunpoint. Tezuka felt the bubbles of satisfaction at another successful raid welling up but pushed them down. It never paid to get cocky, especially at the end when things were going so well. It was bad karma, it would make anything go wro-

There was the bang of a musket going off and instinctively Tezuka crouched to the deck. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that about half of the crewmen he had set to guard the commanding officers were either dead or injured. It didn't take his years of pirating experience to tell that everything was going to go south very fast.

Grateful they had at least secured the booty, Tezuka decided that his first priority should be to get his injured crew out of harm's way. Glancing around, the captain realised that one of the merchant crew had somehow gotten hold of a musket and fired it. Mentally making a note to punish whoever had been in charge of confiscating weapons, Tezuka drew his blade. Of the better fighters of his crew, only Kaidoh and Echizen were on board and could be relied on. At least the enemy had no real weapons...

"Echizen! The gunman." he received no reply save a small figure darting though the crowd of escaping prisoners followed by the strangled gurgle of a man dying. There was a clunk as the gun hit the deck. "Arai. get our wounded off this ship!"

"Aye, Senchou!" The young man looked horrified but Tezuka didn't have time for sympathy. He already had enough trouble with the merchant coming up from behind brandishing an oar. As predicted, things very rapidly got hairy. While Arai and Kaidoh had managed to get all the wounded pirates back on board _Seigaku_, Tezuka found himself cut off from the path of retreat. Worse, as the battle wore on, more and more of their adversaries appeared to be armed, clearly having access to some weapons cache the pirates must have missed. Oishi was signalling to him, jumping up and down while shouting something.

Tezuka paused to stare and heard a shot ring out terrifyingly nearby. He turned just in time to see Echizen standing between him and a merchant holding a smoking pistol before the cabin boy collapsed in his arms. Then, a rope from _Seigaku_ swung overhead and Tezuka grabbed it, letting it carry him and the limp body in his arms to safety.

* * *

Oringally posted: 18/01/2007  
Last modified: 30/01/2007 

P.S. Blue wants reviews! Reviews please!


	5. 005

**Title:** ARR! (#005)  
**Author:** Red and Blue  
**Characters/Pairings:** Shishido/Ohtori  
**Word count:** 1287  
**Summary:** In which Hyoutei enters the fray. In any universe, Shishido must cut off his hair...  
**Author's Notes (Blue):** Uh, Red had to write the hair-cutting bit because for some inexplicable reason everytime Shishido does it, I start to laugh...

* * *

The _Emperor of Ice_ was Atobe's flagship, his pride and joy. Large and luxurious, she was the queen of the seas and Atobe would never dream of using her for actual raids. No, common piracy could be left to the sycophants captaining the other ships in his fleet. The _Emperor of Ice_ was something more – she was the vessel on which Atobe went treasure-hunting, the symbol of his wealth and power. Only the best sailors were worthy of captaining a ship in the fleet she represented.

That was the likely reason for the commotion Atobe found at his docks after issuing his summons to a number of rival ships regarding a grand new idea of his. Shishido Ryou was holding Taki Haginosuke at sword-point, and a crowd of sailors surrounded them.

As Atobe drew nearer, he heard whispers about Shishido's latest escapade.

"Shishido challenged Taki for his captaincy."

"Taki was utterly beaten – just how did Shishido manage to humiliate himself in front of a bunch of no-name pirates?"

"He underestimated the strength of their captain Tachibana," interjected Atobe, fixing a grim look on the hapless man who just spoke. "It would be good for you not to do the same."

"A-Aye, Atobe-sama!"

It was a rather unfortunate affair for Shishido, that whole business with the "no-name pirates" of _Fudomine_. _Fudomine_'s crew had acquired a minor reputation for rowdiness and violence, but recently there had been a mutiny by the junior pirates, with Tachibana Kippei as their ringleader. That man – who could be considered as being largely responsible for former ship's Shishigaku's success on the seas – was one of the most feared pirates in the region. Needless to say, he transformed _Fudomine_ into a force to be reckoned with. One fine day, it so happened that the ship Shishido was captaining found herself under attack by Tachibana and his capable, dedicated men.

Shishido was quick, and he had a good head for strategy, but his downfall was his arrogance. He assumed that the new _Fudomine_ was even more incompetent. It ended up in his cargo being liberated from him in less than a couple of hours. His unsightly loss resulted in his sacking – Shishido's actions did not reflect well on Atobe and the rest of his fleet.

This new development, however, was intriguing. Atobe had thought Taki more competent than that.

"Taki is dropped from being a captain in my fleet," he announced, gaining everyone's attention as he strode forward. "In exchange, Hiyoshi will take his place." _A rather odd character, but not without a great deal of ambition. He will do well._

As expected, Shishido threw a fit. What he didn't see coming was Ohtori Choutarou standing up for his senior.

"Please, Atobe-sama! I'm been sailing for this guy for the past couple of weeks – he's frighteningly capable! I've seen him literally sweat blood handling a ship in a storm on his own…"

"Hn? Perhaps you would like to give up your own ship for him?"

A quiet "Yes" shocked every seaman in the vicinity, Shishido included.

"What are you doing—look, that's not necessary." Shishido took in a deep breath. "Atobe. Please give me a chance. I truly am a different person now." Having said that, he raised his cutlass up to his long mane of hair.

Gasps were heard. "Shishido-san! Isn't that the hair you're so proud of?"

Shishido's blade was ruthless. The beautiful hair that once attracted roving eyes and envy was reduced to a bunch of uneven spikes.

"Enough." Atobe held up a hand. "Do what you want. One more mistake and I'll have you escorted to the end of the earth." Seeing Shishido's nod, the pirate glanced at Ohtori and joined a few more invisible dots in his head. "You can be Ohtori's first mate. Not as prestigious as being captain, but better than washing dishes in the galley, eh?"

* * *

"Shishido-san, please hold still!"

"How am I supposed to sit here when you're yanking my hair out rather than cutting it?" Choutarou sighed and tried to be gentle. Really, it wasn't his fault that the scissors was so blunt every cut had to be accompanied by a sharp jerk of his wrist to have any effect. They were in the captain's room on board Choutarou's ship, _Argentum_, and Choutarou was trying to minimize the damage of the reinstated pirate's impromptu haircut. If Shishido-san had to have short, spiky hair, so be it but it would at least be _even_ short, spiky hair.

"OUCH! Dammit Choutarou, can't you use anything sharper?"

"Your hair's too short to use anything but a scissors, Shishido-san, and this is the only pair I have." Shishido sighed and the feel of silky strands slipping from Choutarou's fingers at the movement sent a shiver down his spine, making him drop the scissors.

As Choutarou hurried to pick it up, Shishido leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. The captain found himself distracted by the smooth plane of his back and the way his shirt stretched taut over it, silhouetting muscle. Unsurprisingly, he missed what was said.

"What?" Usually, Choutarou would have said something politer like "excuse me" but he was a little distracted… Shishido-san had that disturbing effect on him.

"You don't have to act surprised. I'm sure you think I'm an idiot. Cutting off my own hair, making a scene in front of everyone, making enemies with Taki and your previous first mate by my actions… If I'd waited, Atobe probably would have given me a ship again, eventually. But that's not enough. Being in charge of a ship… It's something amazing. And I want to thank you for offering to give up your position to me. I won't let you regret it!"

"Shishido-san…" The fervour in his senior's voice was overwhelming and Ohtori didn't know how to respond. When Shishido displayed such passion, the silver-haired pirate usually let it wash over him, sweep him along with its flow. So he didn't protest as his captain took his hand and pulled him close. He didn't shy away when warm lips traced against his own, even if her was more than a little surprised. However, when the kiss turned rougher and Shishido pulled him into a stumbling walk to the bed, he felt he had to say something, warm fuzzy feelings in the pit of his stomach aside.

"Shishido-san!"

"Yes, Choutarou?" Shishido's voice was an octave lower than usual and Choutarou felt the words vibrating in his chest as much as he heard them. There was a promise in those words and he suddenly wanted very much to find out what it was.

"Please continue." His voice was husky, even in his own ears and Choutarou knew he was blushing. It was all worth it for the smile Shishido gave him, unbridled emotion blazing in his eyes. Shyly Choutarou bent down to kiss—

"Ohtori-senhou! Atobe—Oh!"

Choutarou's first instinct had been to jump away but Shishido clearly wasn't as shy as he was at being out and held on tight. The first mate glowered at the unfortunate seaman. Choutarou, although annoyed at being interrupted, was still polite.

"Yes?"

"Ah… Atobe-sama wants you to take Jirou-san to Port Gray. Um, now."

Choutarou nodded his acknowledgement but the crewman's eyes were drawn to Shishido, who was jerking his head at the door. Taking his cue, the crewman practically shot out of the cabin. He wouldn't dare talk about what he'd just seen for a long time.

As soon as the door was closed, Choutarou found himself in a bruising kiss. "We'll continue later."

The captain wasn't sure he hadn't blushed harder in his entire life. "Shishido-san…"

"Come on, Choutarou! I don't want to get Atobe mad at us!"

"A-Aye!"


	6. 006

**Title:** ARR! (#006)  
**Author:** Blue and Red  
**Characters/Pairings:** Inui, slight Tezuka/Echizen  
**Word count:** 1396  
**Summary:** In which Echizen has to recover under Inui's TLC.  
**Author's notes (Blue):** Personally, if Inui were my doctor, I think I'd rather take my chances... Though juices of his are scary! Some Tezuka/Echizen here if you look carefully... Red and I like to keep our options open... ;)

Oh, and if you're interested in how the pirates from other ships are doing, do check out our other story "A Countryside Sojourn" which features none other but Rikkai!

* * *

Echizen hurt. Pain was the first thing that registered when he opened his eyes. Right after that, large hands gently lifted his head and tipped some oddly tasteless mixture down his throat. The pain subsided somewhat but the resulting drowsiness made it no easier to think. So Echizen drifted in and out of consciousness, alternating between brief stabs of pain when he woke fully and the drugged relief accompanied by drowsiness that invariably followed.

Sometimes, in the period of hazy sleepiness, he thought he felt firm hands with long, capable fingers on his body, stroking his hair and cheeks — hands like he dreamt of almost every time he slept now. Once or twice, he thought he saw the flash of light bouncing of glasses. On one occasion, he managed to creak out, "Tezuka-senchou?" but sleep claimed him and he never heard the answer.

When he fully regained consciousness, however, it wasn't Tezuka he first saw but rather the ship's doctor. Inui was busy scribbling into a large notebook, mumbling, "Yes. Yes."

"Inui-sempai?" His voice was rough from the lack of use.

"There was an 87 chance that you would awaken today. How are you feeling?"

Echizen attempted to sit up straight and failed miserably. "Ready to get out of here."

Light glinted off Inui's spectacles. "I thought you might say that. Fortunately, I have prepared a little something that will help you—"

Golden eyes widened. Echizen shook his head frantically and promptly lay flat on the bed from his semi-propped up position.

Inui swirled a blue liquid in its flask. "Hm. You've been out for more than a week, and the injury in your side hasn't fully recovered. To be expected, of course. I don't predict that you'll be able to walk around until tomorrow. Are you sure you don't want—"

"No."

"Very well. Just to let you know, we've docked at Port Gray — a pirate haven of sorts. We'll be staying here for some time." Inui pushed his glassed further up his nose. "You will accompany me tomorrow to see another physician. I'm afraid that we don't have the resources on Seigaku to ensure a full recovery."

Echizen made a noncommittal noise and rolled over gingerly. Correctly interpreting it as a sign that Echizen wanted to be left alone, Inui moved towards the door. Before he left though, he said quietly, "The crew is grateful that you saved the captain's life. There is a 99 chance that someone else will visit you within the hour, and the odds are that Tezuka himself will be here."

"Mmm."

The cabin boy buried his face in the solid feather pillow and didn't stir even after the door closed behind the bespectacled man. The door opened again so softly minutes later that he didn't even realise he had a visitor until it threw itself on top of him.

"Mreow!"

Karupin nuzzled the back of the cabin boy's head, demanding attention but Echizen only had eyes for the man who had just stepped into the room.

"Kaidoh thought it might do Karupin some good to visit. He claims he's been irritable of late."

Businesslike, Tezuka walked to the sick bed and rolled his cabin boy over so he lay on his back. Echizen didn't reply; it was surreal lying there idly scratching the underside of a purring Karupin's chin whilst Tezuka-senchou fluffed his pillows. Half of his mind wasn't sure this wasn't all a hallucination perhaps caused by some concoction Inui might have forced down his throat. Certainly he didn't doubt the doctor's ability to brew some narcotic that might—

"Does it still hurt? When you lie like this."

Tezuka placed a hand on Echizen's midriff. Later the cabin boy would tell himself it was the resulting stab of pain that had made him start, not the feel of that hand touching him so gently, and yet with the authoritative weight of possession. Whatever the reason, the captain of Seigaku caught the movement and removed his hand. Pulling out a small bottle from a pocket, he uncorked it.

"Sorry. Here, Inui says this will take the pain away."

"No!" The word was blurted out before Echizen could stop himself. Tezuka frowned and the cabin boy quickly rephrased his words. "I mean, no thank you, Senchou. It doesn't hurt that much."

Truth be told, the cabin boy didn't appreciate losing control over his body and he wanted to be awake for whatever came next. The frown didn't quite go away but Tezuka corked the bottle again and sat down on the edge of the bunk.

"Echizen… You did very well back on the merchant ship. You have my thanks."

If it had been anyone else, they would have received the trademark Echizen Ryoma "Mada mada dane". Tezuka got a very quiet, "You're welcome."

"Now, you have to drink this. Doctor's orders."

As Tezuka poured the mixture down Echizen's throat, a hand buried in silky dark locks to lift his head, he disclosed another tidbit of information.

"Your probation's over. You are the permanent cabin boy of Seigaku."

"Mada mada dane." And then Echizen fell asleep.

* * *

Poke. Poke. "Wake up, Echizen."

He felt himself being lifted and draped over someone's back. _Huh… Not Senchou._ Tezuka was like sea and sunshine, but this person smelt quite fishy. Literally. _Inui, then._

Still feeling sleepy, Echizen dozed lightly. He didn't, however, notice when Inui stepped off the comforting back-and-forth swaying of the ship onto the solid, wooden planks of a dock, and later the hot, dusty soil of a road.

After some time, Inui nudged him. "Can you stand on your own, Echizen? I would like to find out if my friend is around."

When he rested his feet on the ground, his legs nearly buckled, but Inui steadied him. The doctor guided him to a post and Echizen leaned on it while Inui rapped a certain beat on the door of the house they were in front of.

In the short interval between then and when the door opened, Inui made a mental note. _Echizen unable to stand properly. Most likely due to lack of exercise. Natural athleticism allows him to regain use of limbs quickly._

"Ah, Sadaharu." A voice interrupted Inui's train of thought. "I expected you sooner. Seigaku did dock a few days ago."

"I had a patient, Renji. I hope you don't mind that I brought him along. Even so," a small smile grew on Inui's face, "it's good to see you again."

The man Inui called "Renji" turned to face Echizen, who felt distinctly uncomfortable. Renji's eyes were merely slits – a bit like Fuji's, but the _tensai's_ eyes seemed to be smiling. For this friend of Inui's, there was more of a sensation that he didn't need his eyes; that he could see everything without opening them.

"Salutations. You must be a new member of of Tezuka's crew."

Echizen did not offer more information.

Inui recited, "Echizen Ryoma. Fifteen years old. Seigaku's new cabin boy. He was injured in the last skirmish we had; although I have set him on the road to recovery, I'd like you to take another look at him."

Nothing was visibly processed on Renji's countenance, but he took a step back into the house — a gesture of invitation. Although his side hurt like crazy, Echizen shuffled through the door without assistance. He did not like the stranger.

* * *

The sun was setting when they left Yanagi Renji's house. Echizen still wasn't too fond of him, though he had to admit that Yanagi's methods were somewhat preferable to Inui's. The _Seigaku_ doctor's remedies were remarkably circuitous and never seemed to pinpoint the problem, while Yanagi's prescribed regimen felt more effective to Echizen.

"We complement each other well." Was that wistfulness he could hear in Inui's voice? "It is a pity that he is a doctor on _Rikkai_."

"Isn't that another pirate ship?"

"A rival of _Seigaku_'s," confirmed Inui. "There are times when life pits friends against each other."

Echizen wasn't sure how he ought to respond to that; it wasn't something he was too concerned about.

"Hm. Anyway, we're spending the night in town." As he said that, light glinted off his glasses. Echizen felt a wave of impending doom wash over him.

It only got worse when he saw that the sign reading "Welcome to Port Gray" was missing an "r"…


	7. 007

**Title:** ARR! (#007)  
**Author:** Blue and Red  
**Characters/Pairings:** Mild Momo/Echizen, Tezuka/Echizen… hell, A-lot-of-people/Echizen; other misc. pairings hinted at.  
**Word count:** 2450  
**Summary:** In which Echizen doesn't really win at everything.  
**Author's notes (Red):** Sorry for the lack of updates… We meant to post this like a month ago, but real life and college kicked in. On top of that, there were all kinds of shiny distractions that came in the form of Rikkai... To make up for it, here's a relatively long chapter for you to sink your teeth into! Plenty of action, and we don't mean the swashbuckling kind. XD

* * *

"This is so unfair!" Echizen didn't even flinch as Momoshiro shouted again. He had developed immunity after the spiky-haired pirate's tenth outburst. "Bad enough I've got to stay back and guard the ship, so why doesn't that baka Mamushi have to too?" Echizen just continued to pet Karupin; the brown and white cat seemed to be depressed by the absence of the hissing crew member and had loudly demanded attention form his next favourite pirate. "Argh! And you're too damn underage for… Never mind."

_That_ sounded different from Momoshiro's usual ranting and disturbingly like a challenge. Echizen looked up, his interest piqued. "Too underage for what?"

"None of your business, Ochibi!" Momoshiro may have violently ruffled his hair, but Echizen still saw the reddening of his cheeks.

"Momo-senpai, you and Kaidoh-senpai really have a _love_-hate relationship, don't you?" Echizen smirked evilly and watched the crimson hue spread all the way to Momoshiro's hairline.

"Ahhh! Shut up, baka Ochibi! You don't know what you're talking about!"

"You're awful flustered, Momo-senpai."

"I'm not flustered!"

"Then what am I underage for?"

Momoshiro glared daggers at the cabin boy. "Drinking games, aright?"

_Drinking games, eh?_ Echizen smirked and made for the hold. "Mada mada dane, Momo-senpai."

An hour and a half later, Echizen slapped another straight flush on the table and smirked as Momoshiro downed the rest of his rum with a groan. Blinking blearily, the spiky-haired pirate scowled at the cabin boy in the smoky lamp light.

"You're cheating, dammit. Even Kaidoh never beatsh me this badd…"

Echizen was unrepentant as he took a tiny sip of his own drink – watered-down rum, a concession to his age Momoshiro had insisted on. Thus far, Echizen was only on his second mug, and he was in a much less inebriated state than his older friend. "Maybe you just suck at cards, Momo-senpai."

"Speaking of sucking…" Momoshiro contemplated his empty mug somberly. "Why way do you swing? Y'know, do boys or girls take your fanshy?"

Echizen blinked like a frog swallowing a large mouthful. "I'm only fifteen, Momo-senpai." Standing, Momoshiro leaned over the table until his face was inches from the cabin boy's, his alcohol-drenched breath heavy and overpowering in the other's nose. A hand rose and Echizen might have flinched; it looked like it was aiming for his lips in an altogether too-intimate gesture. But whether because of the alcohol in his own system or because it was Momo-senpai, Echizen didn't move.

"So you are… What a pity." Then the hand ruffled his hair affectionately and Momoshiro slumped over the table. Echizen sat there for a few moments with Momoshiro's head practically in his lap before he managed to snap out of his daze.

"Momo-senpai? Momoshiro?" He received a snore in reply. Echizen made a half-hearted stab at moving Momoshiro to his hammock but gave up when the pirate nearly put him in a headlock for trying to pull him off the table – all the while never ceasing his deep snores. In the end, Echizen settled for chucking a blanket over the pirate and clearing the table of the debris of their game.

He was washing their mugs in the galley when Karupin, who had been his shadow all evening, gave a loud "MREOW" and took off like a shot. By the time Echizen followed the cat out onto the deck, Karupin was vanishing into the dark around the pier, headed for town. Echizen took two seconds to decide that nobody would be stupid enough to voluntarily board a pirate ship, making Momoshiro and _Seigaku_ safe in her berth before following suit.

Earlier on, Inui-senpai told him that _Seigaku_ frequented this particular part on a regular basis because no one asked any questions. The pirate crew was already pretty familiar with the town, so it was likely that Karupin knew this place too. Echizen concluded that Karupin had to be heading to where Kaidoh and the rest were, and figured that it wouldn't hurt much to keep the ship's cat in his sight.

After all, curiosity killed the cat, not humans… Right?

Echizen found himself jogging through a twisting maze of dingy alleyways, but it wasn't long before a dazzling array of lights lit up the street. He slowed to a halt, blinking. "Gaudy" was the first word that came into his mind when he saw the building that Karupin ran into. Bright pink lanterns graced the façade of the suspicious-looking mansion, and there were a bunch of men hanging about outside.

"Kid, aren't you a little too young to for this kind of fun?" a nervy-looking chap said to Echizen, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

Echizen shrugged. "I'm old enough to have an idea of what's inside." _Thanks, Oyaji_, he thought, not in the least bit grateful.

The young man's eyes slid over him in an interested manner and started to say something, but Echizen ignored him in favour of walking into the building. He was soon, however, stopped by another guy. Except that this one looked a lot bigger and tougher. A guard.

"What 'yer doin' here?" he grunted.

"Looking for a couple of my companions. Uh, my cat just ran in."

"Hm? A new crew member for _Seigaku_? You're the youngest yet." The guard patted his head and winked at him. "Go on in, then. You're pretty cute… Watch out for the girls."

He didn't expect it to be so easy, especially since he was underage and looked like it. Maybe other people also thought of _Seigaku_ as a bunch of nutcases which could be why the bouncer had let him in with no qualms whatsoever. Then again, he did give some sort of warning…

"Wah This one's cute!"

Something, or rather someone, glomped Echizen out of the blue. The low, ambient lighting in the place made it rather difficult to make out the features of his attacker, but from the soft body pressing into his back, it was easy to infer that it was a female. A well-formed one, at that.

He tried to wriggle out of the woman's vice-like grip. "Let me go! I'm only here to look for one of my friends." The faces of _Seigaku_'s crew ran through his head. They all seemed a little too gay to frequent any bordello, so he took a stab with the most heterosexual of the lot. "Um, Taka-san."

She twittered. "That big, strong guy? He's with Yuuki-chan now. Better see him quickly before her son arrives. He's very fierce."

Echizen highly doubted anyone could scare this girl would really be any threat to him, but if it sped up his mission… "Right. Could you take me to them?"

The female figure spun him around and crushed him in an embrace. With his face right in her cleavage and her soft arms around him, Echizen felt like he was drowning in gelatin.

"Oh, aren't you cute! Why don't you stay with me? I know all sorts a sweet little boy like you might enjoy!" And much to his horror, Echizen found himself being whisked away in the arms of the voluptuous woman. He would have hit her if he knew where to amongst the whirlwind of frills, lace and bare skin. Unfortunately he was having a hard enough time keeping himself from being smothered to figure that out. A curtain drew back and Echizen found his ears assaulted by shrill female squeals.

"Omigosh! He's so cute!"

"Where did you find such a darling little boy?"

"Aw, he's got such soft skin."

"Can we keep him?"

The poor cabin boy tried not to pass out from the fog of perfume settling over him. He'd been set down on some poofy manner of furniture and found himself ringed by women in various stages of undress. As a particularly matronly woman pinched his cheeks and clutch his head to her bare bosom, he felt the last shreds of heterosexuality slipping away…

"Excuse me—"

"—my turn to hug him!"

"I have to--"

"Aiee! So cute! I wonder if he's old enough to enjoy female company properly yet?"

"!"

High-pitched shrieks rang out as Echizen broke free of the witches' circle, not caring where his hands fell as he pushed the feminine monstrosities away. A large, skirted figure appeared seemingly out of nowhere, blocking off the door. There was no dodging her so Echizen did the only sensible thing to do with freedom beckoning so tantalizingly close. He dove down between her legs and wriggled under her skirt. The woman shrieked and fell but the cabin boy was moving so fast he was free before she landed, so fast he couldn't stop himself from running into a welcomingly masculine chest.

"Hoi! What're you doing here, Ochibi? Aren't you—"

"A little too young to be here, yes. Kikumaru-senpai, save me!" It was a mark of how terrified the poor boy was that he ducked behind the sailsmaster with the plea for help.

"Hoi, hoi. What did you do, Ochi—"

"There he is!"

­­Eiji looked from Echizen hiding behind him, to the horde of angry female escorts and remembered that Tezuka might be more than a little mad if they had to change cabin boys again. Wishing Oishi was with him, Eiji put on his best smile and prepared to deflect the mob.

"Ladies, ladies! It's Ochibi's first time here. Please don't frighten him! And," he added dramatically, "he's not yet sixteen."

"Eh?"

"But he's just too adorable!"

"Maybe he needs a real woman to—"

"No." Echizen flatly cut off the cries of his little harem. "Come on, Kikumaru-senpai. I want to go back to the ship."

"You heard the kiddo." Eiji flashed an apologetic grin to the bevy of beautiful women. "He's had his fill of fun for the night."

A collective "Aw" rose from them.

But Echizen was already sprinting out of the building.

* * *

"Can you walk me back to the ship, Kikumaru-senpai?"

Eiji sighed. "Okay."

They strolled in silence for a while, but the bundle of energy that was Kikumaru Eiji couldn't resist asking his junior a few questions.

"Nyaa, Ochibi, so what were you doing back there?"

"Momo-senpai passed out, and Karupin ran off the ship."

"Eh? Did he try to make you play drinking games?"

Echizen stared. "How did you guess?"

"Because that guy can't keep is alcohol in, much as he inhales the rest of the food," Kikumaru explained. "And I don't know how, but Kaidoh conditioned Karupin to tell him whenever Momo passes out so he can laugh at Momo about it."

"…"

"And you haven't told me why all those girls were chasing after you! You're so lucky, Ochibi."

"I didn't ask for it. They pounced on me."

Eiji wagged a finger, "No need to be shy. But…" A contemplative look came into his eyes. "I don't think Tezuka-senchou will be too happy about this."

What was Kikumaru talking about? However, before Echizen could probe further, the sailsmaster exclaimed, "Hey, we're at the ship already!" Ruffling Echizen's hair, he said, "I'll be going now. Oishi will get worried — you know how he's like. Don't burn down the ship!"

Echizen watched the redhead walk away, a bounce in his step. The cabin boy scowled. Him? Burn down the ship? What did they think he was? It wasn't like he was Momo-senpai who got drunk and passed out, making the ship's cat run off to that creepy Mamushi… Sighing, Echizen trudged up the gangplank. He was tired and it was late. Time to bolt down the door and get some sleep…

* * *

"—that adorable?"

"Shhh, don't wake him up. Tezuka-senchou says he and Momo get to sleep in since they stayed behind last night."

"Nyaa, Kaidoh. Looks like you have a rival for Karupin's affections!"

"F-shuu!"

Fuji watched as some of the crew clustered around Echizen, who was sleeping under the stairs with his blanket half off and the ship's cat draped across his midriff. Even as Oishi arranged the blankets more neatly over the lumbering cabin boy, Fuji had to notice the boy's location was most strategic. The steps sheltered him from the elements and ensured that anyone trying to steal the ship or her cargo would have to walk directly overhead, waking him up. The only obvious flaw was that Echizen had not taken his own body's need into account. Alcohol combined with his still-healing wound had knocked the boy out for the count and even Tezuka had admitted that he looked adorable. Only to Fuji, though. And only under the unspoken threat of the pain of death if he shared that with the rest of the crew. Speaking of their captain…

"Fuji, my quarters."

The tensai's eyes opened a fraction as he closed the door to the cabin behind him. Tezuka got right down to business.

"Last night you spoke to Jirou. What did he say?"

"You mean in between falling asleep in his drink?" Tezuka shot him a warning look and Fuji relented; Tezuka was always a little short on matters concerning Hyoutei. "Atobe is calling all ships back to berth."

If Tezuka was annoyed at having his next destination dictated to him, he didn't show it. "What for?"

"Jirou wouldn't say. I'm under the distinct impression Atobe didn't trust him to keep the secret and so didn't tell him."

Tezuka's lip quirked; nobody in their right mind expected to be able to keep secrets from _Seigaku_'s tensai for very long. "Very well. Anything else of interest?"

"Our little cabin boy's quite the ladies man. Did Oishi tell you?"

"Yes."

Fuji smiled sunnily. "Don't frown so, Tezuka. Your face might freeze that way."

He wanted to object to that of course, but that would be immature and he would be falling for Fuji's bait. In the end, Tezuka settled upon, "He's not yet ready for that kind of entertainment."

"Oh, you wouldn't know, Tezuka. Echizen's quite worldly – he seems rather well-traveled, for one."

Now he knew for sure that Fuji was trying to draw him into something. What exactly, he didn't know, because no one fully understood the prodigy Fuji Syuusuke. One thing that was common knowledge, however, was Fuji's manipulative streak. Tezuka refused to respond to the other's comment.

Before the awkwardness of their conversation could set in properly, a sharp knock was heard.

"Tezuka?" Oishi. "Are we getting ready to go?"

"Aye." Tezuka stood up, and said to Fuji, "Get the crew organized. And… move Echizen into someplace more comfortable. I don't want his injury taking a turn of the worse, not when he's almost recovered." Unconsciously, his right hand strayed to his elbow.

Fuji gave Tezuka an understanding look as he saluted him. "Aye, senchou."


	8. 008

**Title:** ARR! (#008)  
**Author:** Blue and Red  
**Characters/Pairings:** Tezuka/Fuji/Echizen, Tezuka/Atobe (as usual, only if you squint and tilt your head)  
**Word count:** 1655  
**Summary:** In which they come to Hyoutei and Davide maketh bad puns.  
**Author's notes:** We're back! As a testimony to exam-induced stress and lack of time, this chapter is hereby declared full of crack and Tezuka/Fuji/Echizen triangle-y goodness! Yum.

* * *

The sun glinted off the emerald green sea and fluffy little white clouds scudded across the clear blue sky. It was a beautiful day for pirating and an even better day for not doing anything at all. Aoi cast a weathered eye on the crew of the _Rokkaku_ making merry on the beach and turned back to the sea with a sigh. There were no beautiful ladies on the beach, only in smoky taverns and crowded bordellos. He had a dream, a dream that one day women would flock to the beach in appropriately skimpy clothing and play games which would involve lots of jumping up and down…

A coconut husk whacked his head. Aoi sighed again. He didn't need to look around for the culprit – who else could it be other than on of his crazy crew?

"Oi," he called out, "don't bully your captain." He might have been younger and smaller than the rest, but he had still obtained his position fair and square.

"Sorry, Senchou." A hand descended on his shorn head and patted it affectionately. "'Twas not on purpose."

"Ah… Don't worry about it, Saeki."

"You're worried about something." Little could escape Saeki's sharp eyes. "Is it about that thing Fuji mentioned to us?"

"About Atobe calling all ships to Hyoutei, yes. We should get going soon, but that would be robbing everyone of their vacation…"

Out of nowhere, a bottle of rum was shoved into his face. "Forget about it! Be a bum, have some rum!"

Kurobane twitched. "That was really, really lousy, Davide."

"Excuse me—"

"Stop!" Aoi took a generous swig from the bottle and began to sing – if you could call his off-key humming that. "Life as a pirate is carefree. It's all about wine, women and song. Let's forget all our troubles…"

"…did anyone put something in his drink?"

"Fear not, he is merely cheerful. A wine-y person our senchou is not."

There was a thud as Kurobane's foot connected with Davide's shin. Saeki watched the other pirate ply their captain with alcohol and turn once more to the sail on the horizon. Somewhere out there the other pirates would be racing for Atobe's summons. The _Rokkaku_ would too of course… tomorrow. Today at least they would relax and drink rum.

"Aoi has rum in his tum!"

And suffer Davide's terrible puns.

* * *

"Land ahoy!"

Echizen stirred from his usual napping spot. There really wasn't much for him to do, since Tezuka ruled with an iron fist and everyone more or less did everything required of them. Even cleaning duties were distributed fairly. The cabin boy was able to spend the bulk of his days snoozing on the deck, but sometimes he would sneak off to the hold to practice his fighting skills. He hoped that their current quest, whatever it was, would allow him to put all those hours of practice to good use.

"Hey, Echizen! You're needed up on the sails!"

"Aye." His light build and nimble body were useful assets, especially when it came to things like rigging the sails.

Later, when there was a slight lull in activity, Echizen put some of the things he was wondering about to _Seigaku_'s sailsmaster. "Kikumaru-senpai, where exactly are we headed?" From his vantage point, he could see a lone island in the distance. Although it appeared to be mostly covered by luxuriant vegetation, he could spot signs of civilization and there were many tell-tale specks of ships floating near it.

"That's the island of Hyoutei," said Kikumaru, normally cheery voice subdued. "Pirate King Atobe's domain."

"Pirate King?"

"Aye. It's not a widely publicized fact but we pirates do answer to a common overlord. His name is Atobe Keigo and he holds court on that island."

"Then why are we going there?"

"King Atobe's calling all pirate ships in. his messenger caught up with us while we were in Port Gray. I just hope it's not to announce he's upping his cut again."

"…so even pirates have to pay taxes."

"Eh?" Kikumaru gave a sheepish grin. I guess you could call it that…"

"Kikumaru-senpai… is this Atobe very strong?"

The already somber pirate's mood darkened even more.

"That guy's been rivals with Tezuka-senchou for as long as anyone can remember." Echizen felt a shiver run down his spine. Anyone who would declare themselves Tezuka's rival would have to be _good_. And if he was The King and Tezuka wasn't then maybe, just maybe, he was even better.

"Interesting… Kikumaru-senpai, do you still need me around here?"

"No, not really. But try to make yourself useful, okay? It's going to get busy soon."

Echizen's feet hit the deck with a soft thump as he jumped off the ratlines. Someone grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.

"Echizen, do you have a moment?"

"Fuji-san…" Echizen swallowed down the rebellious stirring of nervousness the _tensai_ always inspired in his guy when he had _that_ expression. "Sure." The words were no sooner out of his mouth than Fuji hauled him away from the nice, bright, populated deck to the dark, not so nice, not populated hold.

"What's going—" the words died in Echizen's throat as Fuji leaned in close, so close that he could feel the other's breath on his face. Echizen felt… Well, he wasn't sure what he was anticipating, but it certainly wasn't a hissed warning.

"Echizen. When we land on Hyoutei, don't try to be a hero."

Futilely, he struggled against Fuji's vice-like grip. "Fuji-san, let go. I can take care of myself."

Blue eyes flashed. "You don't know Atobe."

"That's because I hadn't heard of him until today!"

Fuji's hold on him slackened. "Hm. But you did ask Eiji about him, didn't you?"

"Kikumaru-senpai said that he's strong."

"Too strong for you as of this moment. Promise me that you won't do anything foolish. For everyone's sake. Tezuka's, especially."

"Senchou?"

"Ah, I've said a little too much." Fuji smiled, looking more like his usual self. "Why don't you go pay him a visit? I think he might need some assistance in preparing to go on land."

"Uh, okay." Echizen turned to go, feeling decidedly uneasy… when a hand gave him a brief pat on the behind. Scandalized, he whipped around to glare.

"Get along, Echizen." Fuji was grinning his Cheshire Cat grin and he looked decidedly _hungry_. Echizen got along, fast.

* * *

Tezuka was poring over the ship's log when someone knocked. He called for them to enter without looking up, expecting Oishi or maybe Fuji. Hark, even Inui would have been less unexpected than the slender and petite figure that strolled in.

"Echizen. What do you want?"

"Fuji-san said you needed help with something, Senchou."

Tezuka considered; he didn't strictly require assistance but since the cabin boy was here…

"Check these figures for me. Make sure they all add up. You can read, I presume?" He received a withering look in reply and Echizen settled in a large chair with the ship's accounts book. For a time nothing was heard in the cabin save the gentle rustle of paper turning and the occasional scratch of a quill as amendments were made.

"Senchou?" Tezuka looked up; Echizen had moved, silently as always, and was standing by his elbow, accounts book held to his chest. "I'm done checking. It's all correct."

"Very well. Thank you, Echizen. You may go." He saw the boy hesitate; Echizen was easy to read when he wasn't oozing arrogance and superiority. "Is there something you want to ask?"

"I was just wondering… How long have you known Fuji-san?"

"Fuji?" Tezuka pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "About… seven years, I think. Has something happened between the two of you?"

"Not really… It's just that he seems to know you very well."

"Fuji has his way of integrating himself into people's lives," Tezuka said, voice almost affectionate. Sometimes, Echizen had to wonder about Fuji and Tezuka's relationship… He noticed that Fuji got away with a lot more things as compared to the rest of the crew. The captain actually seemed more worried for Fuji rather than his victims when the_ tensai_ went overboard… Except maybe when it came to Echizen.

The last thought disoriented Echizen. He quickly turned his mind to upcoming events, namely, Hyoutei and Atobe. "Senchou… What will we be doing on Hyoutei?"

Tezuka considered for a moment. "Judging from the nature of Atobe's summons, I believe that he will be making some sort of announcement. It is doubtful that there will be any action – the pace of life on Hyoutei is fairly relaxed. You could say that the island serves mainly to flaunt Atobe's wealth."

"Then why does everyone seem so tense?"

Tezuka was impressed that Echizen had managed to pick up on the general mood in such a short span of time; indeed, the boy was settling in well. However, he doubted that Echizen was ready to face the pirates of Hyoutei…

"You'll see. It's almost time now – get ready."

* * *

Little could have prepared Echizen for the sheer opulence of Hyoutei. He figured that a pirate king would be rich, but no this rich. It wasn't as though the roads were paved with gold – Atobe would never stoop to anything quite so ostentatious and tacky. Even so, the delicate interplay of marble and water in the form of fountains and expensive plants simply screamed of wealth and power. The whole crew seemed rather subdued as they made their way through the garden the road from the port led to. Not a single pirate of Tezuka's hand-picked group stepped of the gravel path onto the perfectly manicured grass. Echizen, with a surprising lack of contrariness, supposed it was because the garden was so pristine, sullying it seemed criminal.

"Everyone, be on your guard."

At the back of the procession and blocked by Momoshiro's back, Echizen wondered what up ahead could have sparked the warning.

"Welcome, welcome!"


	9. 009

**Title:** ARR! (#009)  
**Author:** Blue and Red  
**Characters/Pairings:** Tezuka/Echizen, Atobe/Echizen. GP is taken for granted and there's Atobe/Tezuka if you want to look at it that way.  
**Word count:** 1619  
**Summary:** In which Echizen might as well take out an ad in the papers saying, 'Single, pre-teen boy seeking trouble.'  
**Authors' notes: **Thanks for still keeping up with this story!Sorry for the long wait, but here we are again (finally) with another chapter. Plenty of holes abound for your over-active imaginations to fill in – be careful not to trip.

* * *

Echizen started in surprise at the chorus of female voices and wormed to a better vantage point by dint of squeezing between Momoshiro and Taka-san's elbows. What he saw made him stop short and wonder where reality had been left behind.

A white mansion sparkled on the lawn, its Greek-styled façade unlike anything Echizen had ever seen before. On the steps were two lines of women, all young, pretty, and identically dressed in red frocks with aprons and throwing roses. Tezuka walked through the shower of blossoms, unfazed, to the more conventionally garbed man standing to one side.

"Captain Tezuka and the crew of the Seigaku reporting."

The man nodded somberly and handed Tezuka an envelope. While he read the contents, the rest of his crew stood surrounded by a virtual carpet of roses and stared at the flowers or the beaming lines of ladies according to their tastes. Echizen (barely) managed to fend off attempts by Momoshiro and Kikumaru to thread flowers in his hair.

"Everyone, let's go."

Partly to escape Momoshiro and Kikumaru, partly to be close to the only pillar of sanity in this strange, strange place, Echizen hurried until his strides matched Tezuka's at the head of the party.

"Senchou, what was all _that_?"

"Atobe being Atobe." Tezuka sounded both resigned and amused at the same time. "You'll just have to put up with it."

_I really need to meet this Atobe guy…_ "Where is he, anyway?"

"I imagine that he'll wait for the rest of the major pirate ships to arrive. He always did like to make a grand entrance."

That didn't help Echizen much, but it seemed everyone was reluctant to part with information about Atobe and Hyoutei. Well, he was already on the island… it wouldn't take long for him to draw his own conclusions. "So, what other pirates will be here?"

"Rikkai is a given of course. I also expect Yamabuki…"

Echizen didn't recognize the other names and allowed himself to space out while listening to Tezuka. _Senchou has a nice voice_, he thought. Flat at times, but otherwise low and pleasant to listen too. Oddly enough, Tezuka seemed to fit in well with the luxurious surroundings. While most of the crew was visibly awkward, the Seigaku captain moved easily through the hallways of the mansion the unknown man escorted them through.

Finally, the party halted in front of a corridor lined with portraits.

"Your rooms."

Tezuka nodded a dismissal. "We'll rest here for now. I expect us to be here for quite a number of days… don't be afraid to make yourselves comfortable but always be on your guard!"

"Aye!"

ARRRRRRRRRR

Oishi was making an effort to keep the Seigaku crew away from the other pirates. That, Echizen was certain of. Every time he walked out into the common corridor, Oishi would insist on accompanying him and every time Echizen glimpsed a pirate he didn't recognize, Oishi would veer him off in another direction. After two days of this constant chaperoning, Echizen was bored to tears and ready to rebel. It wasn't that their quarters were small (they weren't) there was just _nothing to do_. He couldn't spar (Oishi had been angry when he caught Momoshiro and Kaidoh fighting), he couldn't gamble (Oishi said he was too young) and he couldn't explore the place (Oishi insisted on accompanying him everywhere outside the rooms.) Any way you sliced it, his boredom was all Oishi's fault so Echizen felt absolutely no remorse in tossing Karupin (the cat had followed Kaidoh on to the shore) and a bottle of catnip into the room Oishi shared with sailsmaster Kikumaru.

Freedom at last! If he knew how, Echizen would have whistled as a strolled along the deserted corridors beyond their designated rooms. After a seemingly endless maze of corridors (he never considered the possibility that he might be _lost_) Echizen stepped into the blinding light of day. When his eyes had adjusted to the brightness, he realized he was standing in a giant glass room. A bead of sweat trickled down his temple; it was very hot. The décor of the room seemed to match the temperature. As far as the eye could see- which wasn't very far – there was thick foliage from palms and a vast array of other tropical plants. Echizen hesitated only a second before pushing through, the sound of tropical birdsong in his ears.

He burst through the bushes and found himself at the edge of a large pool nearly covered with water lilies. The sound of water that had been the steady backdrop ever since he stepped into this strange room grew to a roar. The source was a waterfall tumbling down the cliff face that made the entire of one wall the glassed-in room.

"What on earth…" Echizen ran a list of expletives he knew through his head and finally decided none were worthy of the sight before him.

"Who are you? How dare you interrupt ore-sama's bathing time?"

Echizen jumped; he hadn't heard anyone come form behind on the soft, wet soil. The person who had managed to approach undetected was clad only in a towel wrapped around his waist, water trickling down his bare chest.

"Who are you?"

A contemptuous sniff. "I own this place. You are a lowly pirate. Now explain yourself."

Echizen had the vaguest feeling that the other man was looking down on him, but it didn't really bother him. What was foremost on his mind was the man's identity. "You're Atobe, right?"

"Brat, right?"

"Monkey King." Echizen just felt like provoking the arrogant pirate king. To tell the truth, Atobe was rather good-looking, especially with a surprisingly threadbare towel as his only covering and the his wet skin shining from what might have been bath water or might have been sweat; it _was_ hot. All the warnings his senpai had shoved on him were thrown clean out the window when he finally saw Atobe in the flesh. Echizen could feel that Atobe was strong – he had the same aura Tezuka did, although there was a passion lurking close to the surface that Tezuka buried much deeper.

Atobe narrowed his eyes. "What ship do you hail from?"

"Doesn't matter."

The older man bared his teeth. "Who gets to decide that? You will be locked up until your captain comes to reclaim you… if you're worth that much effort."

In spite of the posturing and threats, somehow Echizen had the feeling that Atobe was more amused than angry.

"Kabaji." Atobe snapped his fingers and a huge man built like a plough horse appeared from the bushes behind Echizen. "Take this brat to the dungeons. Put him in a private cell."

"Usu."

"Hey!" Echizen found himself hoisted in the air by the back of his shirt. He flailed for a few seconds but stopped to scowl when he failed to hit anything. Kabaji tucked him under an arm as soon as he was still. Echizen wasn't worried that Tezuka-senchou wouldn't come to his aid but he didn't doubt his captain would be less-than-pleased at having to bail him out of this Atobe's dungeon. Somehow the prospect of Tezuka's displeasure was unacceptable to him.

"Fight me!" Kabaji and Atobe froze and slowly the pirate kind turned to face the cabin boy.

"You want me… to fight you?"

"It's alright if you're afraid, Monkey King." Atobe was treated to the patented Echizen Ryoma smirk. That its owner was dangling from the midriff only made the delivery even more insulting.

"Brat, you're a hundred years too early to even _dream_ of challenging me. But if I have to disillusion you… Kabaji, get us the swords."

"Usu." The quiet giant dropped Echizen on the sand and shuffled off. The cabin boy looked up to see Atobe standing over him, oozing confidence and power.

"Prepare to be awed by ore-sama's prowess."

Echizen gave a feral grin. "Mada mada dane."

ARRRRRRRRRR

"NYA! O-I-SHIII! Where's Ochibi?"

The first mate disentangled Kikumaru's arms from around his neck and took a much-needed deep breath.

"I don't know, Eiji. I've been a bit busy trying to get Karupin out of our room. Have you tried asking Momoshiro?"

"He hasn't seen him either. You don't think he wandered off, do you?"

Oishi paled. "We better tell Senchou."

ARRRRRRRRRR

The sound of the double doors to his chambers slamming open made Atobe look up. Tezuka strode up to the recliner the pirate king lay on, a hapless servant in his wake, trying to tell him that Atobe had given explicit orders that he was not to be disturbed. Atobe dismissed him with a regal wave of his hand.

"I was expecting you, Tezuka."

"Where is Echizen?"

"Is that the brat's name?" Atobe calmly flipped a of the book in his lap.

"Atobe, where is my cabin boy?" Atobe's left arm was in a sling; Tezuka didn't have to know the pirate king and his crew member as well as he did to know there had been a fight. Atobe's sustained act of nonchalance didn't help his worry-frayed temper either.

"Infirmary. Relax, Tezuka. He's unharmed – more or less. The brat can certainly give any number of people a run for their money. Not good enough to beat ore-sama, of course, but he didn't keel over and die like most would. Where did you find him?"

"You're interested in Echizen." Tezuka said flatly.

"That kind of talent only comes along once every ten years." Atobe sat up a little straighter. "Don't go too hard on him, even if he is an ill-mannered brat. I'd like another round with him."

Tezuka's shoulders were still stiff when he marched out of Atobe's quarters, but the aura of suppressed fury was tempered somewhat by thoughtful eyes.

* * *

**Authors' notes, deux: **Yes, we are bent on leaving the pairings as open as possible. Like it? Hate it? Let us know. The purple button calls below.


	10. 010

**Title:** ARR! (#010)  
**Author:** Blue and Red  
**Characters/Pairings:** …a lot.  
**Word Count:** 2236  
**Summary:** In which Atobe talks a lot. And many pairings are hinted at.  
**Author's Notes (Blue):** We're back! Uberly long chapter to make up for our extended period of absence and more pairings in it than you can shake a stick (or a bundle of sticks) at. Read the long, tedious explanations of Atobe's…_thing_ because it's kinda a major plot point. Red and I will probably post chapter 11 pretty soon and then after that it's back to hibernation for the both of us while we try to study for major exams. So 11 will be a scary-long update too.

A soft knock sounded at the door of the room Echizen and Momoshiro shared. "Seigaku pirates?"

"Go get the door, Echizen." Momoshiro prodded Echizen lazily with his toe; the two of them were dozing in the too-comfortable quarters Atobe provided.

"Don't want to."

"I'm your senpai."

"But you're too nice to force me."

Momoshiro hated it when Echizen was right. Still, he dragged himself out of bed and answered the persistent rapping at the door. After exchanging a few words with the man outside their room, Momoshiro shuffled back to where Echizen was.

"Get your ass moving, Ochibi. The king demands everyone's presence at the Central Lake."

It shouldn't have been surprising that a short time later the duo found themselves standing in front of a lake – probably artificial – in the middle of the island, complete with another mini-island in it. Everything on Hyoutei was so over the top; at this point in time Echizen was ready to accept anything.

Momoshiro shielded his eyes. "Ah, there's the rest of the Seigaku party. Let's join them."

Echizen had to make it a point to stick close to his senpai for there were many other pirates milling around the lake. He couldn't recognize any because he was relatively new to piracy, but he was able to gather that almost everyone there knew each other. Not all acquaintances were friendly, though. Quite a number of glares were to Momoshiro in between the grins and slaps on the back he received. Echizen had just been introduced to a madly grinning pirate (who mutilated Momo-senpai's name into 'Omoshiro-kun') when there was a fanfare of trumpets.

"Ah, here we go. Up, Ochibi." The spiky-haired pirate easily hefted his short friend onto a handy rock which gave him a decent vantage point. "Atobe's entrance is always worth watching."

"And you'll get to see everything from up there. L-U-C-K-Y! ♥"

"Shush Sengoku-san. It's starting."

From around the mini-island came a strange boat with a curling prow that was propelled by two long lines of rowers. Standing at the helm was Atobe, dressed to the nines in white silk that contrasted sharply with the ebony boat. Musicians seated on the boat provided a theme song to the craft's stately advance.

"Nice. A little more mellow than usual for Atobe though."

"Maybe he's tired. I heard rumours he was injured."

"Injured?" Momoshiro squinted. "He looks fine to me."

Echizen remained silent, a smug smirk on his face.

The barge glided smoothly onto the mini-island. The Seigaku cabin boy watched carefully as Atobe stepped off the boat, but there wasn't any sign of their fight. Atobe, for all purposes, seemed his usual arrogant self. He strode up to the centre of the elevated ground on the island and snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, everything fell silent. Momoshiro and Sengoku halted their running commentary. The musicians seemed to freeze. Even the birds and the crickets and the peripheral noise produced by tropical flora and fauna were muted. Echizen was almost afraid to breathe – it seemed too loud.

When Atobe spoke, his voice was able to carry over the lake. "Welcome to Hyoutei," he said grandly. "I have summoned all of you here because you have been invited to participate in my treasure hunt."

A buzz broke out at the words "treasure hunt" but it died down when Atobe raised a hand.

"I'm sure that the more experience of you have heard of the previous pirate king."

"Suspicious old geezer," whispered Momoshiro to a blank-looking Echizen.

"Recent findings have shown that my predecessor hid the bulk of his fortune throughout the seas. The treasures belong to me, the reigning pirate king. However, I have amassed much wealth of my own. I doubt that the treasure can add much to mine.

"So, being the benevolent and generous king that I am, I will share a part of this treasure with all of you. Every captain interested in this quest will receive a part of a map."

The chatter that broke out this time took a little longer to quiet down.

"Nevertheless, I expect half of the findings to be delivered to me. Even then, the remainder ought to be greater than any treasure you might have stumbled upon. My men will be sent out to monitor all who opt to join in – the penalty of deserting is not something you wish to contemplate."

Out of the blue, someone called out, "What's the catch?"

"Who said that?" A wild-haired youth stepped forward and licked his lips, hungrily.

"I did not think a pirate of Rikkai would be quite so fearful. But since you ask boy, there is no catch. Save of course that the voyages will be hard and the route to the treasure perhaps dangerous. But there is no 'catch' as you so quaintly put it. Ore-sama is above such things."

There was a moment's silence as the pirates present thought about it. Backstab Barry, fabled to be the richest pirate king _ever_ had scattered and hidden all his treasure in his old age due to a fit of selfish paranoia that the lire of treasure might prompt an assassination attempt from his possible successors. He'd died without revealing any of the treasure's location and to find even a single cache was guaranteed to meet any pirate's wildest dreams.

Mizuki of the St. Rudolph stepped forward with a twirl of his new purple coat.

"Where do we sign up?"

"Those of you interested can put down your names and obtain your respective maps from Kabaji." Everyone looked where Atobe was pointing and saw the silent giant seated at a table under an open tent a little way off. Several secretaries were of course also in attendance. "The maps you will receive are each part of a whole." Everyone's attention snapped back to Atobe. "Nobody has the whole map, some show more than others and there are duplicates. You will select your maps at random."

A murmur rose at this and Atobe raised a hand for silence. He got it.

"Every participating ship will carry 2 Hyoutei pirates, at least one of them must return with you – alive. Or, the consequences will be severe." A quieter murmur went up at this and Echizen smirked.

Atobe might literally live in an ivory tower but he was far from naïve.

ARRRRR

It was near evening now and the Seigaku pirates were only just signing up for the treasure hunt. The crew – minus Oishi – had almost instantaneously voted for participating. Still Tezuka had taken his time to make the decision, returning to the ship first and remaining cloistered with Oishi for a long time in what could only be consultation. In the end though he had said yes and the Seigaku pirates had trooped back out to the registration tent.

"Took your time I see," drawled Oshitari Yuushi, a Hyoutei pirate high up in Atobe's ranks. "Atobe had you people pinned as one of the first to sign up." He handed Tezuka a scroll. "He reserved this piece for you."

Tezuka's face remained impassive. 'Where's the paperwork?"

"Follow Kabaji behind that partition over there."

The Seigaku captain seemed to take a long time to the restless pirates. Echizen, itching to take a look at the map, was on the verge of asking Momoshiro to spar with him to get his mind off the hunt and dissipate his twitchiness when two pirates darted in.

"Ibu Shinji and Kamio Akira of Fudomine?"

The pirate with dark red hair flopping over half his face answered, "Aye. First mate Kamio, here to register for Fudomine."

"Strange. Why isn't your captain here?"

"Ta-Tachibana's busy, so he sent me here on his behalf…"

"More like, Tachibana never wanted to sign up for this in the first place," an angry voice cut in."

"Senchou!"

A man with a bindhi and dark hair cropped close to his head stood outside the tent. "Kamio, Shinji. We'll discuss this elsewhere."

Echizen pondered the Fudomine trio until Tezuka's return jolted his mind back to the treasure hunt. Unbeknownst to him, another Seigaku pirate also had a thoughtful look in his eyes…

ARRRRRRRRR

"Tachibana-san, may I come in?"

The pirate captain looked up at the taller man wearily and nodded, stepping back to allow him to enter the cabin. Tachibana seated himself at his desk and gestured for Ohtori to take the chair on the other side.

"I can guess why you're here. It's about the treasure hunt, isn't it?"

"Yes. Why didn't you allow your pirates to participate in this? They have a lot of talent, only overshadowed by their ambition."

Tachibana sagged into his chair. "It's funny how we're both sitting down here talking like civilized people rather than the pirates we are."

"Huh?"

"All the pirates who pay tribute to Atobe… we're not so much pirates as privateers, no? We take this life on the seas by choice and not from forced circumstances. Above all, we prize the freedom afforded to us. That is why I do not want my crew to recklessly go on a quest that will lead them down a path of bloody and violence. With the wealth that the map can bring them, they might just while away their lives with rum and prostitutes. They could destroy themselves, which is a pity because they do have the potential to do better in life."

"I'm not sure I understand, Tachibana-san. If this is their choice, why no let them follow their hearts?"

"You're a captain too. Surely you feel some responsibility for your men."

"I trust them," Ohtori said, unruffled. "You should trust your people too. To know what they want, to know that they can achieve their goals, to know that they cam take care of themselves." He got up. "I hope I got my point across. Do consider your decision again."

Tachibana studied Ohtori for a moment. "Shishido Ryou… he's your first mate, right? I hear that you're rather close to him. Don't you feel some resentment towards Fudomine on his behalf?"

"I think… that incident made him a better person. And for that I owe you thanks." Ohtori gave a little bow and walked out.

"A better person aye?" Tachibana mused. He did not move from his chair for a long time.

ARRRRRRRR

"Argh! I can't believe the captain won't let us do this! I thought you said he was having a bath, Shinji. Rargh, I was so sure we'd make it."

"It's not my fault," Shinji muttered at this irately pacing friend. "I couldn't tell what Senchou was doing for sure without going into his quarters and that would just have been rude to say nothing of suspicious since I have no good reason to. Besides, I heard water splashing through the door for quite a while."

"He has a leaky basin in his room. Of course you heard water splashing!"

"Aye, but how was I to know that? I'm not his first mate like you are; I've never been in Senchou's room before. Kamio should have told me about the basin. Aren't friends supposed to tell each other everything? I would have thought that the contents of the captain's sacred cabin would be worth mentioning fellow curious crew members. This is all Kamio's fault. In the end, it's just like him to blame me."

Having Shinji mutter aloud practically everything that went thorough his pretty head was useful in knowing his thoughts but Kamio didn't always like what he heard. The red-headed speedster flopped down on a chair with a sigh.

"M'not blaming ye, Shinji so quit muttering 'bout it. I just don't see why Senchou – Tachibana won't let us do this. Hellsteeth, even Seigaku's doing that and they've got some brat on the crew."

"Senchou's being paranoid," Shinji stated, unusually succinct.

"Ye got that righ—"

"Kamio! The door burst open and Ishida stumbled into the room. "Problem! Senchou's fighting Seigaku's Fuji!"

ARRRRRRRRRRR

He staggered into his cabin, shirt soaked through and breathing hard. Fighting with someone at _that_ level and who never tried to push him to his limits like Tezuka did… It was liberating. Ironically, Tezuka's expectations were holding him down.

"Where were you?" a cool voice questioned.

Speak of the devil. It was times like this he hated Tezuka. Fuji hated his captain for demanding so much from him, for wanting him to maximize his potential. And for trying to keep tabs on him all the time.

"Out.

"There's no need to hide it. Almost every ship has heard about your fight with Tachibana now."

"Then why do you ask?"

"I…" Tezuka leaned back into the wall. "I am concerned."

"I can handle myself, Tezuka."

"But why did you do it?"

"Why do you keep pushing me?"

Tezuka paused. "If the rumours about Tachibana changing his mind regarding the treasure hunt are true, I suppose whatever you did must have been effective. I wonder… How come it never works when I duel with you?"

"You lack subtlety."

"But…" Tezuka pushed off the wall and _slinked_ towards the shorter man. "Someone has to be direct here." Maybe it was the predatory glint in his captain's eye but Fuji found himself backing away – until his back hit the opposite wall. "And as your captain, I can always order you to…"

"Order me to what?" Adrenaline was still running high in his veins, and his close proximity to Tezuka made his pulse race even faster.

"I think you know."


	11. 011

**Title:** ARR! (#011)  
**Author:** Blue and Red  
**Characters/Pairings:** Fuji; Shishido/Ohtori  
**Word count:** 2160  
**Summary:** In which certain pirates feel… restless.  
**Authors' notes (Red): **Scary-long update, as promised in the last chapter. Complete with the long-anticipated Rikkai cameo. With any luck, the studying-induced brain-drain doesn't show too badly… Enjoy!

* * *

"Man… how did it get so crowded…" Momoshiro complained as yet another pirate stepped on his shoes. Atobe's main port of Hyoutei was full to bursting despite its massive size and facilities. Everyone was running around, preparing for a long voyage and carrying supplies. Suddenly Echizen didn't feel quite so out of place carrying the wicker basket of chickens Taka-san had given him to carry.

"Atobe's treasure hunt officially starts tomorrow morning. This is everyone's last chance to get ready." Fuji smiled benignly from behind the large hocks of salted ham Kawamura had slung on his shoulders. Somehow it seemed fitting he should be so cheerful carrying large amounts of semi-raw meat, "Also the quality of all merchandise on Hyoutei is without equal."

"Typical of Atobe," Kawamura smiled. Then there was a very solid _thunk_ as someone ran into the barrel he was carrying on his shoulder. "Oh no! Are you alright?" for a second, Echizen thought whatever had run into Taka-san was wearing the most ridiculous hat of black seaweed he had ever seen.

"Aye. I'm fine. But ye won't be for long." Bloodshot eyes looked up at the _Seigaku_ pirates, a malevolent grin spreading beneath them. The person was young, barely older than Echizen really, but he exuded a sense of power that might have rivaled their captain's. Fuji quickly stepped forward, hands raised placatingly.

"Please now, no need for that manner of thing. If you are unhurt, then let us part."

"Scared to fight? Heh, I didn't realize _Seigaku_ pirates had gotten so weak."

"We only fight people worth the time."

"Echizen!" Momoshiro tried to do a little damage control but the cabin boy had stepped up to the challenger, oozing arrogance in that way of his guaranteed to annoy even the most level-headed opponent. This one just grinned even more maniacally, licking his lips as he drew his sword.

"I get to warm up on you? Excellent. You're small to start with; we'll be able to bury you in a cigar box by the time I'm done with you."

"Akaya!"

Something (with a mop of red hair) tackled the challenger in the midriff, sending him rolling into a stack of crates. "Senchou said no fighting!"

"They started it! He hit me on the head!" Gone was the red-eyed demon and suddenly their challenger to be was just a petulant child.

"Akaya." That one word was a command and instantly obeyed. Echizen felt like he should bow his head, but he threw off the urge to instead stare at the person who had just spoken. Who was it that could subdue such a wild demon with a single word? And the way he said the pirate's name… Gentle, yet steel edged those three syllables.

The actual appearance of the person, however, surprised him. A delicate, fragile man stood in the middle of the dock, cloak flapping on thin shoulders. He didn't look like he could actually hold his own in a fight. Yet… Echizen could sense respect emanating from virtually every pirate present.

"Senchou!" Akaya said quickly. "These people—"

"Now is not the time." The captain turned around. "We have a bigger fight ahead of us."

"Aye. But," he sneered at Echizen, "I think I'll be seeing you again."

"Likewise."

With the potentially epic duel postponed, everyone went on with their own lives. Echizen picked up his basket again and resumed the tedious but oddly therapeutic task of carrying supplies to the ship. This time, Fuji trailed him closely.

"Fuji-senpai, there's no need to follow me around… don't you have more important things to do?"

Clear blue eyes fixed on him. "I have to keep an eye on you. You've shown a marked tendency to get yourself into trouble, and I don't want Tezuka to get worried."

Echizen blinked. Fuji was being uncharacteristically straightforward. Indeed, the _tensai_ knew how to throw someone off balance and get his point across.

"Fuji!"

The blue eyes vanished behind a facade of smiles. "Saeki!"

A pirate with partially bleached hair came up to them and clapped a friendly hand on Fuji's back. "It's been some time since you passed on Atobe's message to me. What's this I hear about you and Tachibana…"

Their chatter was tuned out by Echizen, who was once again sharply reminded of how green he was.

"…so _Rokakku_'s participating in the hunt?"

"Of course…"

He let them continue for a while before deciding there was only so much reminiscing he could eavesdrop on and cut in. "Um, Fuji-senpai… This basket's pretty heavy…"

The boatswain took the hint. After that, few people interrupted their preparations for the upcoming journey – they had to get ready for their own hunt as well. The sun was a dull red when they could finally partake of their evening meal with all the other _Seigaku_ pirates.

During a relative lull in the general chaos of dinner on _Seigaku_ (Taka-san had just dropped his spatula – the peace couldn't last long), Echizen turned to Fuji. The boatswain had proved unusually straightforward during the day and he hoped he would remain so, long enough to answer his question at least.

"Fuji-senpai, who were those pirates we ran into today?"

"Hmm? We met lots of pirates today. Would you like me to name all of them?"

Echizen almost said yes before remembering that Fuji was a tensai and might actually make good on that. He quickly shook his head.

"No, just the ones who wanted to fight with Taka-san."

"Hey bay-bee. Those guys were good but we could have taken them!" In the face of Taka-san's utensil-induced insanity, Fuji did what he did best; he smiled benignly and nodded until the chef ambled off to resume his duties.

"Those pirates were from _Rikkai_. Marui Bunta's the redhead. The one with messy hair was Kirihara Akaya, their crew's prodigy. Not unlike you I believe."

Echizen ignored the reference to himself. He was more interested in another person. "And the other guy who told him not to fight? The tall one."

"Ah. That's Yukimura Seiichi, their captain. Strange to see him here though; I'd heard he was recuperating from some illness in the countryside."

"So he wouldn't be fighting at full strength now?"

"You're not to fight him, Echizen." Fuij's glare was fierce and the cabin boy felt like one of those pinned-up butterflies he had once seen in a rich man's house. "Even weakened he is very formidable."

"More so than Atobe?" Fuji started, thrown off for a second by the unexpected attack from Momoshiro.

_Seigaku__'s young guns… They've no lack of ambition._ "Even Tezuka-senchou would be hard-pressed to defeat him." He saw the bright eyes of Echizen and Momoshiro and he knew that any warning would fall on deaf ears. Their feelings we alien to him – why did they have a constant desire to conquer higher goals, to drive themselves past their limits?

Fuji plastered on his usual mask, not wanting anyone to sense the conflict raging within him. He excused himself, citing work and decided to seek out Tezuka. Knowing the captain's work ethic, he was probably poring over the piece of map _Seigaku_ received. A puzzle would be good to take his mind off this issue. Or any distraction Tezuka could offer, for that matter…

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

"I've managed to identify three treasure spots in this map." Inui pushed his glasses up his nose. "There are probably more, but I cannot tell with the currently available information."

Fuji traced a slender finger over the canvas. "It's not that this copy was poorly made. The markings on the original must have been faded as well."

"That means we'll just have to make do with what've we've gathered so far," said Tezuka. "Inui, you mentioned that this map shows an area about a week from here?"

"Aye." Inui gestured to a quintet of distinctively shaped islands. "I recall that we took shelter here once during a storm. The nearest treasure spot is somewhere en route from Hyoutei to these islands. Weather conditions permitting, _Seigaku_ should be able to reach it in no more than five days."

Oishi frowned. "I just realized something… We always run into a storm within a few days of leaving Hyoutei, regardless of the time of the year."

Fuji smiled. "We must be cursed."

ARRRRRRRRRRRR

"No! There it goes! The chair Shishido-san, under the chair!"

There was a scuffle, a squeak and a thump. Shishido straightened, holding a very dead rat up by the tail. Ohtori squeaked and scuttled even further back into a corner of the bunk.

"Choutarou, it's okay. The rat's dead."

"Um, yes. Okay. Could you get rid of it now? Please?" Shishido gave a long-suffering sigh and stepped out of the tiny cabin obligingly to throw the carcass overboard or to the ship's cat. Gingerly, Ohtori put his feet back down on the floor. The boards felt gritty beneath his bare soles, dusty. He'd have to see about getting a broom from somewhere to clean the place up. And find the rat hole and block it up. The young captain gave an involuntary shiver. He _hated_ rats. They had been the bane of his life when he'd first started out being a pirate – the hold where the crew slept had been infested with them. Luckily, Shishido had always been very patient about killing them and when he'd been made captain, his first move had been to appoint Ohtori his first mate. First mate with his own rat-free cabin.

"Oi, you haven't died of shock or something, have you? Wasn't even that big a rat."

Ohtori looked up at Shishido, a smile spreading on his face. Here was his very own spiky-haired, short-tempered, rat-slaying knight in pirate's clothing. "Thank you Shish– Ugh! What is that smell?" whatever it was, Ohtori really hoped it wasn't his bunkmate. It might be a very unpleasant few weeks if so…

"Some stuff that Inui guy gave me. He saw me throwing away the rat and said it would block up the rat hole pretty good." Shishido held out a bucket filled with sinister-looking brown goo. A bubble burst on the surface and the stench increased ten-fold. Ohtori sought sanctuary further back on the bunk, a blanket held under his nose.

"'Tis a foul smell indeed. Perchance we might – RAT!"

"Huh? Where?"

"Over there, Shishido-san! It just ran from that corner!"

Time slowed; Shishido leapt at the rodent but missed. Terrified, the rat scampered up the chair and took a flying leap at the seemingly safest place in the room: the bed. Ohtori saw the rat leap, watched it fly through the air, straight towards his face with its grimy little claws, flea-infested fur and scaly, naked tail. He opened his mouth to scream but nothing came out…

Then the rat was gone. Ohtori blinked, the rat lying in a corner of the cabin now, clearly dead and Shishido was standing before him, a boot in his hand. The first mate dropped the piece of footwear and reached out a hand to stroke his captain's hair.

"Are you alright, Choutarou?"

"Shishido-san…" Words could not express the gratitude in Ohtori's heart right then. Shishido was his saviour! A knight, noble and pure who had rescued him from a fate worse than death!

Alas said the thoughts of said 'knight' were slightly less-than-noble right then. Mainly his thoughts were on now adorable his captain looked just then and how shiny and wonderfully inviting his trembling lops looked. Ah well, he'd saved him hadn't he? Shishido figured he deserved some kind of reward…

"What in the name of…"

Shishido jerked up from his compromising position and _glared_ at the young pirate standing at their door. "Didn't you captain teach you to knock?"

"He did," the boy answered, "for doors that were _shut_. Yours was left slightly ajar and everyone could hear the commotion in there. I was sent to see what was going on."

"Everything is fine," Ohtori said politely. "Thank you for your concern."

The boy shrugged. "It's what we have to do." He turned to go, but stopped abruptly as if remembering something. "Oh, and the other pirates want me to tell you to um, keep it down. If you get what I mean."

"Aye, I get what you mean alright." Face flaming, Shishido pushed the kid into the passageway outside and slammed the door. He made sure to turn the key before he and Ohtori resumed their… activities.

ARRRRRRRRRRRR

"So, Echizen. Were they…?"

"Stop waggling your eyebrows like that, Momo-senpai. It's disturbing, they were, um… Well, not exactly. More like _about to_."

"How do you feel about it?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Do you feel grossed out, or something like that? I heard from Eiji about that time in Port Gray…"

"Not really. Why should I be? It's not like I don't see it on _Seigaku_ all the time—oh."

"Echizen! Don't faint on me! I don't want to explain to Tezuka-senchou what we caught those Hyoutei pirates doing!"

* * *

**  
Authors' notes, deux: **According to our plan (I'm using the term loosely here), this should mark the end of the first story arc: introductions and setting the stage for the hunt. I'm not sure when we'll continue working on the next arc because somehow we have to conjure up sufficiently good grades in our upcoming exams to get into our courses of choice in university, so we could use all the encouragement we can get. Do let us know what you think of our fic! And hopefully we shall return with more cracky goodness. :) 


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